Understanding how the Czech Republic and Hungary behave in the European Union: policy engagement and the politics of migration before and after 2015

Nisbet, Jolan Tamara (2021) Understanding how the Czech Republic and Hungary behave in the European Union: policy engagement and the politics of migration before and after 2015. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

EU enlargement rounds in 2004, 2007 and 2013 increased the number of national interests represented during the EU policy formation process. The literature on how ‘newer’ Member States, particularly the post-2004 countries are engaging at the EU level is still developing, with research tending to focus on the decision-making stage of the policy-making process. Consequently, gaps remain in understanding how national representatives from post-2004 Member States engage in the initial stages of the policy formation process including agenda setting and policy formation. These initial stages are largely informal, making examination more complex than later stages such as decision making or policy implementation.

The policy area of migration has been selected due to the complex combination of national and supranational migration interests, in which the themes of international human rights protection norms, security concerns, sovereignty and EU solidarity merge. Due to this overlap of themes, migration policy provides the possibility of empirical depth. Particularly since 2015, the development of EU migration policy has made limited progress due to a lack of consensus between Member States, in part due to the opposition from some post-2004 Member States such as the selected cases of the Czech Republic and Hungary. Based on the qualitative data from interviews, media reports, primary sources, and secondary sources this thesis examines how and the extent to which post-2004 Member States are engaging in the EU policy-making process.

This thesis highlights the differences between the Czech Republic and Hungary in terms of the forms and actions used during EU migration policy engagement. It addresses the limited understanding of post-2004 Member States. The unique implications for the EU policymaking process, the development of EU migration policy and the limitations within the Visegrád Group are highlighted. This thesis offers an analytical framework tailored to better understand newer Member States attempts to engage in EU level policy-making.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Carbone, Prof. Maurizio and Butler McIntosh, Dr. Eamonn
• Date of Award: 2021
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2021-82692
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 10 Feb 2022 12:31
• Last Modified: 08 Apr 2022 16:51
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.82692
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/82692